Puck Daddy

Puck Headlines: Marty Brodeur’s worth; Bryan Murray’s optimism

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

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• Kevin Bieksa is on Twitter and this pic of Kesler giving a thumbs up to his saline drip is his avatar. Makes sense. Kesler's the one who convinced the Vancouver Canucks' defenseman to join Twitter after Bieksa was adamantly against it last Spring.

• Nicklas Lidstrom, from the funeral of Brad McCrimmon: Brad was my first defence partner in the NHL," said the Detroit Red Wings captain, who attended McCrimmon's funeral Saturday afternoon in Farmington, Mich. "He looked after me and took me under his wing. He was a mentor for me." [London Free Press]

• Teppo Numminen has joined the Buffalo Sabres' coaching staff as an assistant. He's going to be the guy upstairs on the headset," Ruff said. "His role is going to be helping out on the player development side with the younger defensemen. James' role has elevated during games so he's going to give us a little bit of a European flair." [Die By the Blade]

• Ottawa Senators' GM Bryan Murray on the team's outlook for the year: "I think we'll be a team that pushes for a playoff spot." Until November or so. [Ottawa Sun]

• Meanwhile, owner Eugene Melnyk says he won't sell the Senators "as long as the fan base continues to be interested." So he can sell whenever then. [Ottawa Citizen]

• The deals signed John Tavares and Tyler Myers set the bar for Victor Hedman's second contract next year. Seeing as Myers will be making $12 million in 2012, it's a high bar. [Raw Charge]

• Copper & Blue looks at the best players making less than 1% of their team's salary cap. Niclas Bergfors! Steal of the century! [Copper & Blue]

• According to one simulated season of NHL 12's Be a GM mode, Henrik & Daniel Sedin will put up a combined 339 points, and yet neither will win the Hart. That honour will go to Sidney Crosby, who will register a whopping 186 for the Philadelphia Flyers after Pittsburgh trades him for Jaromir Jagr and Claude Giroux. It all sounds pretty plausible. [Winging it in Motown]

• Today marks the first day in the scheduled hearing of the Dallas Stars' bankruptcy case. [Defending Big D]

• The Los Angeles Kings have signed Kevin Westgarth to a two-year deal. [Jeff Marek]

• The Rangers are being extremely cautious with Marc Staal's concussion. As they should. They should hold him out of Staal family get-togethers, too, seeing as that's how these things happen. [Blueshirt Banter]

• Darren Dreger on Earl Cook, a devoted Detroit Red Wings fan that succumbed to cancer early Sunday morning. Earl was a frequent guest inside the Wings' dressing room and they all adored him. [TSN]

• This isn't hockey-related just yet, but it might be. The NFL has apparently decided to abandon the "shrink it and pink it" philosophy when it comes to women's apparel. Think the NHL will follow suit? [Jezebel]

• Fear the Fin talks with San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson about improving the defense and the penalty kill. [Fear the Fin]

• James Wisniewski on this hit on Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan: "Shane plays the game really hard, and coming from a leader like him, he obviously understands that how things played out wasn't intentional - I don't think it's anybody's fault, it's coming out of the rule changes. You can't impede anyone, so guys are really flying out there on the ice. Hearing from a leader like that that he understands it wasn't on purpose - that means a lot." [The Cannon]

• The Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators open the preseason today with a double header. "Not sure if it's a one-tie or two-tie day ... probably a two-shirt day," said new Panthers coach Kevin Dineen. Yes, these are the things Dineen should be worried about. [NHL.com]

• And finally, we linked to the Adler Mannheim season trailer for 2011, but the 2010 trailer, created by the same production company, is pretty excellent too.